Jarrah has been having some new experiences and I just have to say I am very pleased with her. Coming as a 2 year old out of a backyard I wouldn't expect her to be good with livestock, however I decided to take her along when putting my bottle fed lambs away and she merely acted happy to be with them, not excited, then when I introduced her to our pony stallion all she did was lick him on the nose. Wanted to lick my ewes on the nose too when she met them through a gate, which is pretty good for a cattle dog, Perkins for instance would always have tried to nip.
Her latest job is helping us calm down a friend's very reactive GSD. He was put in a boarding kennel as a youngish pup and after days of dogs barking at him is not prepared to trust any bar her little Shih Tzu. He was so wound up he didn't even realise Jarrah is a female close to being in season, he would just continuously lunge and bark at her. They've had only 3 meetings and while he still lapses back into attack mode occassionally my friend has got him focusing on her very well due to daily training and I think Jarrah's unflappable behaviour is working its magic too. He is much more relaxed for the majority of their get togethers. Doesn't matter what he throws at her, Jarrah just wants to play, or she ignores him. We had a nice quiet walk down the road today, no nonsense. He's a lovely boy, I think we'd adopt him if she ever decided she didn't want him.

I'll try, but don't hold your breath. LOL. She's shaping up as the perfect dog for us, except for her flat out zoomies and not knowing quite what she wants to do to my Persian cat. She might want to lick it too. (I wish!)

It's a relief, DD. Every animal here deserves a quiet life. If she'd been mad keen to bite stock I had a friend very keen to have her (another suburban backyard home), but no way known, we'd have coped somehow, but so easy this way, with her wanting to be friends with or mother every animal she meets.

Here's our girl seeing eye to eye with my stallion, Digby, our old bay mare, and finally the sheep. She was very funny actually, it was like, "Oi! I've seen these before, show me something new", not that interested.

Hazel, Digby is the funniest pony, he adores our orphan lambs and even thinks bees are his friends. In hot weather he'll stand with his head in a cloud of bees at his water trough, with a dozy look on his face as if he really thinks they are his friends. I don't know that I'd trust him not to hurt Jarrah if she was in his yard, but then "Wrinkles", the merino ewe lamb, got in with him and he was fine. By the way, Wrinkles inherited the name of the little ram lamb we couldn't save, and as you'll see below, it's appropriate.
Unfortunately sheep haven't a way to protect themselves against dogs. A Kelpie(sheep dog) attacked a ewe of ours that we had on a block in town and she was badly bitten in the face, so even trying to butt the dog is no deterrant. Sheep don't know that saying, curiosity killed the cat, Melinda, you can see in the second shot that if the gate was open they'd have followed Jarrah.

Thanks, kdog. I've been meaning to put in an update on Jarrah and the GSD, Archie. They have now touched noses, he's got her scent and is certainly mellowing, for instance my sister had her 4 month old GSD pup, Sally, here for a couple of days and he decided(I think) that maybe he should protect Jarrah, going into attack mode towards the pup. He gave Sally a couple of frights but she bounced back, trying to tease him into a game. I think that was working too but my sister wasn't taking any risks. Anyway, we went for a nice walk in the forest opposite this place and Jarrah and Archie were strolling along quite calmly, fairly close together on the way home. Lovely to see the dog relaxing and learning to trust Jarrah.
Oh, my sooky baby, Jarrah, I've found has a great love of stuffed toys, she pinched Sally's teddy so I gave her a lary looking platypus of her own.

Wow, Jarrah really is a good girl! I would love to have a calm one around like her to introduce to my Terrier/Poodle mix. He's very sweet indoors and with dogs he already knows but, since we've gotten him a "sister," he's decided he doesn't need or want anymore friends! Oh my. What a character.

Having all those animals around must be such a joy! Those sheep in the last picture really do look like trying to find an opening in the fence though! Hahah. Silly sheep.

I'm sure your boy would get on fine with Jarrah, Serena. I am not saying that Archie will be good with other dogs but Jarrah is a clown, and Jarrah is a tart, and Jarrah would rather play than fight, so at least he has one more friend. She may help him settle down over at Obedience, we won't know till it starts up again next year.
The animals are nice and sheep are a lot smarter than you think. They're great fun except when things go wrong, and we've had a bad year unfortunately, losing a ewe, a couple of lambs, and having one lamb break its leg badly, and another get a torsion (twisted gut) twice. Those last two lambs are okay now but they certainly gave me a few more grey hairs.

Oh my goodness, what a sin! I'm sorry about your animals, but glad the last two lambs are alright. My Dad's cousin owns a sheep farm, but I've never been able to spend any time there due to my wool allergy. I went there once - and left with a great set of hives and the inability to breathe :P Silly too, given my last name is Lambe!! Hahah.

You're the first person I've known of who is allergic to wool, Serena, that could be inconvenient for you. Do you get hives when friends wear wool or is it only caused by direct contact ? Must be scary. A friend's daughter here is allergic to dogs and will scratch her arms raw if she's near them for too long. Made me appreciate the law here of no dogs or cats allowed in Hotels or Motels etc.. The next person in your Motel room could have an allergy like hers.

Yeah, allergies are always a nuisance. I usually only get hives from direct contact, but the breathing trouble starts when I'm near wool for too long. Once I was taking a first aid course and feeling really miserable the whole time... Until I realized they had wool blankeys in the room to prop up the heads of the CPR dummies. I had to ask if they'd remove them. After about an hour, I felt a lot better. I think it's the fibers that get into the air the irritate me. It's a pain to get warm coats in the winter and such, since I have to stay away from wool. And when we stay with family, I always have to explain why I can't have wool blankets. They're so common. And once they've been in the bed, I need to change the sheets or I'll be miserable the next day. But it's not as bad as your friend's daughter. I can't imagine being that allergic to something. Especially dogs because my dogs are my babies!! I have a friend who gets migranes everytime she is around perfume. It's so hard for her on public transport and public places since the scents are not regulated there like they are in a lot of workplaces, hospitals, etc.

Goodness, we(meaning people without allergies) don't know how lucky we are. Fortunately my friend's daughter isn't allergic to cats or horses, two of her passions. What do hives feel like, are they itchy or sore? I am curious because one of my cattle dogs once got hives and she looked pretty miserable. Raced her off to the vet at midnight, only to find she was perfectly normal when we arrived. (A half hour trip) . I knew it was either a new fly spray or a disinfectant she was allergic to and the vet wanted me to test which it was but I didn't, I just never used them again.

What a strange suggestion from the vet! I would have done the same thing; just stop using both products. Oh my.

In my experience, hives are mostly just itchy and irritating. But, of course, if you scratch at them, they turn sore and scabby. Otherwise, they just disappear with time and Benadryl! Your poor dog, she probably didn't know not to scratch!

She was a blue cattle dog, Serena, and you could see the hives through the hair on her face. Her ears were swollen, and as I said, she looked miserable. The same girl was allergic to preservative in a certain brand of tinned dog food. When fed it she would act like she was seeing pink elephants, she'd be hiding under the table, staring big eyed out into the hall, prepared to bite if you tried to get her out. The minute I changed her diet she was back to normal.

Now, major breakthrough for Archie today. He now knows Jarrah is a girl, Jarrah smells great, Jarrah loves to play and they finally made contact, albeit still on their leads. He did greet her like a psycho Shepherd at the start but we figure it's the sound of my shelties barking inside that gets him revved up. By the time we walked a mile he was fine and the day only got better for him. Back here later for a cool drink, then a game of chasey with Ben's old Wiggle Giggle ball, followed by a game through the fence with Jarrah, and finally we let them jump all over each other a bit. Anyway, here is Jarrah's boyfriend.

I think he's nice, Hazel, and if you saw him playing with the Shih Tzu, or interacting with her mini ponies, well, it's hard to believe he could be so very aggro towards strange dogs. Jarrah is in season now so he might only get another walk or two with her before we'll call it quits for a while, but then I might try introducing him to Bo. Bo's so fearless and happy to meet other dogs that hopefully we could make some progress. I am seriously considering having Jarrah speyed before her next heat. Couldn't really do it before this because the way my boys have been acting she seemed always on the verge of just coming into season. She's got impeccable breeding, a wonderful temperament and is a good type but we have only ever bred litters when we needed a pup in the past, and I can't see us wanting more cattle dogs in the future.

I am so pleased with Jarrah today. Pheobe, the Persian cat, is confined behind wire that she can jump if she wants to go anywhere else in the house, but it deters dogs from going after her. Well, Jarrah's so funny, whenever she goes into the passage she is in slow motion, stalking the cat even before she sees it, and when she does she freezes, sometimes with a hind foot still in mid air. She is so intent that I can take hold of the foot and place it on the ground, make her sit and drop, pull her top lips down, cover her eyes with my hands , grab her tail and wag it , she doesn't budge or break the eye contact. What sheep farmers would call a strong eye dog I guess. She snaps out of it when the cat decides to have a roll on the carpet, then she's prepared to walk away from it. Well, Phoebe was in the passage today and didn't move away, so I let Jarrah creep right up to her. She had a good sniff and didn't look like biting. Yay for Jarrah!! Persians are just the best cat in that they don't run, but all the same, I won't be trusting Jarrah totally anytime soon.

Another encounter satisfactorily completed, Jarrah met up with this guy and came away really easily. The lizard is eating figs now that the mulberries are finished ... which reminds me, I must put the strawberries up into a hanging basket or they'll go next. Jarrah has a wonderful nose for scent, she alerted me to the fact that we had ripe apricots on a young tree out the front, regardless that she didn't want to eat any when I offered her a piece.

Melinda I must try and get a photo of a Blue Tongue when it has its mouth wide open, hissing at me. If you are walking in the bush and have one do it right beside you it can give you a real scare. LOL. I think while some people raise homing pigeons, I might have a homing Blue Tongue. How many times is this that I've put it back over in the forest? Could be worse, it could be rabbits, hares or kangaroos eating stuff in my garden I suppose.
Hazel, if she touches our Feebles(aka Pheobe, the Persian) she'll be dead meat. LOL. She knows I mean business too. Cattle Dogs can be terrible cat killers. I think she's going well considering she wasn't raised with one though. Our outdoor cats know to keep out of her way, they don't even fraternise with the Shelties.

Ian tells me that when he got Jarrah out at lunchtime, Pheobe was lying with part of her hair through the wire and that Jarrah only licked it. (Can't let her keep doing that or she'll get a furball. LOL). While I have to say 'Good girl, Jarrah!', I still wonder if she was just getting a taste of it.